


Lives Left

by SarieVenea



Category: Stargate - All Series, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Character Death, F/M, Gen, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2013-01-06
Packaged: 2017-11-23 21:05:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/626511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SarieVenea/pseuds/SarieVenea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary-When two battles are over, who will be left to live in grief? The memorial service for those who gave everything for their people, their planet, their city.</p>
<p>This is horribly sad. Fair warning. </p>
<p>Originally posted at ff.net in May, 2006.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lives Left

Author's Notes- I cried as I wrote this. The wars against the Wraith and the Ori will not be without their cost, and I wondered if it would become too much for those left behind to bear. Please let me know if you enjoy, or if you cried too.

* * *

"There was a battle fought nearly three thousand years ago in Rome. The King Pyrrhus gained victory, but the losses suffered by his armies were too great for it to be called a true triumph."

Daniel looked down at the piece of paper in his hand, the empty faces of the rows of people in front of him too hard to watch.

"We too have won, across three galaxies and hundreds of millions of planets, we have won. Our enemies are gone, running in defeat before dying like the innocents they slaughtered for thousands of years. We fought and lived to tell of it, to tell the stories and speak of the history we have created." He looked up again, the sheets of grief that hung in the air so heavy he could barely see through them.

"But at what cost?" His voice shattered and the words split like raindrops that fell on the earth above.

* * *

" _Sam! Where's Teal'c?" Daniel grabbed the woman's shoulders, pulling her away from the ramp and hubbub surrounding the injured Bra'tac. She opened her eyes, the naked pain catching his breath in his throat as she simply leaned forward against his chest, her arms coming up to cling to his shoulders. Carter shook her head, feeling nothing, the soul-scraping hollowness eating her words. His great body broken, they'd found him long after the Prior had crushed him with a thought._

_Mitchell strode past, his eyes black. He stopped at the beginning of the hallway, turning to look at the silent colonel. He reached up and grabbed at his hair, hissing the fury that came with his words._

" _Teal'c's gone, Jackson. He died on that planet."_

* * *

_John was screaming. He didn't hear it. He fired again and again, blind, his leg on fire, his head disconnected. He tore through the onslaught of Wraith, not caring about action or thought, fighting to keep each breath. Finally the world was quiet, and he closed his eyes, the emptiness making him stumble. He swallowed, turning slowly. Nothing had changed. The torn webs hung around the wrinkled face of someone too full of life to ever be still. Not even in death._

_He reached forward and tore the rest of the strings away from the body, sinking to his knees as the frail form collapsed. The dry breaths were cruel in that the Wraith had left just enough for Rodney to die in Sheppard's arms. And he did, too quiet, too painfully, too finally._

* * *

 

_Vala reached her Daniel just as he reached his CO. She dropped to her knees and grabbed the archeologist's shoulders, pulling him free of the flames. Cameron's cries were soft, not piercing as she knew hers had been. She threw herself in between Jackson and the colonel, using all her strength to hold him back._

" _No Daniel! It's too late! Daniel!"_

_There would be no miracle this time, no last-minute rescue. The townspeople stood and watched Mitchell burn alive, as he knew Oma did. As Shifu did. As the people of Abydos did. As he did, only he was crying. Vala turned away, burying her own grief in his shoulder as the effort drained from his body, watching until there was nothing but ashes to take back to Earth._

* * *

 

" _Gone! Ronon, they are gone! Everyone! My people are gone!" Teyla shrieked and screamed, the charred buildings echoing. Ronon stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders as she cried out her hate and pain, the death a stench in the air. "Dead! They are all dead…"_

* * *

 

" _Stop, Dr. Lam. He's gone."_

_Carolyn shook her head, her bangs sticking to her wet cheeks as she pumped up and down, counting in pain-filled gasps as she desperately tried to bring her father's soul back into his body._

_Walter, the little technician who'd known him as well as she did, rested his hand over hers and pulled her away._

" _Stop."_

* * *

 

"There is nothing that can replace what we lost. Nothing can make it worth this." Daniel's eyes met Jack's, the open tears mimicking his own.

John stood, leaning on his cane, staring forward. Elizabeth was next to him, shaking, straight-backed, her eyes closed. Teyla was pressed against Ronon, quiet and pale. Zelenka too stood still and silent, his moving lips a translation into Czech all that Daniel said.

Sam was at attention, the hand clutching Jack's the only indication of her pain. Vala had her arms wrapped around herself, her broken sobs occasional and quiet. Dr. Lam merely looked lost, her eyes haunted. Marines were in tears, men and women with broken hearts standing in perfect rows behind their leaders.

"We have gained, yes. We have saved lives and planets, our own homes and cities. Billions will never be fully aware of what we in this place have accomplished to protect them. And yet the loss is too much, too heavy." He paused and swallowed hard.

"A phrase was wrought out of that battle in 279 BC. A Pyrrhic victory. One that comes at too high a price."

* * *

_SG-1 stood at silent attention, the tall pyre cradling its wrapped bundle against the night sky. Bra'tac spoke a hushed benediction and the familiar explosion of energy took all that is left of the greatest warrior to fight for the Tau'ri into its shimmering blue. Sam choked in a sob, Daniel's fists knotting in each other as Cameron saluted sharply, his hand slowly coming down to his side._

_Jack O'Neill kept his raised._

" _We won't give up, T."_

* * *

 

_Sheppard watched the procession, detached, not letting himself realize who lay inside the delicately carved casket made from Atlantis herself, found deep in the city and chosen to hold the remains of he who had loved her as they were laid to rest on a cliff top. He closed his eyes and let the breeze play with his hair, the smells of the mainland forest drifting around him. Elizabeth lowered her head, refusing to hold back her tears._

_John sucked in a breath, coming to attention as the bearers stopped in front of him._

" _I'll keep your city for you, Rodney."_

* * *

 

" _You have permission to release the package, Colonel."_

" _Roger that, control. Releasing package in three…two…one." And with a swift dive and turn, Sam shot the 302 straight into the sky, flicking a switch and letting the ashes of a gentle southern soldier fly into the wind he loved so much._

" _Blue Squadron, salute!"_

_On cue, nine 302s flipped over, going vertical as the retort of their burners shot them forward._

" _It was good, Shaft…"_

* * *

 

"We have our lives to live, our journeys to follow whether we feel as though we can or not. We who are left must go back to empty rooms, empty halls, empty labs, empty teams. It tears us apart, to know that so many will never see the peace we finally reached. Our wounds run deep, but we won't let them consume us."

He folded the paper and looked up, meeting each gaze in turn.

"We each made a promise. Standing next to the ones we love as they were taken from us, we each promised that we will not give up. That we won't forget, we won't let it keep us motionless from pain. We finished out the fight, and we will stand to meet any that come against us in the future. We made promises, to those we buried and to those who still live around us. We have lost too much, enough to question this victory, yes."

He was openly crying now, his words hushed and earnest.

"But we will honor them. We will not forget. We will not let it be for nothing."

He dropped his head, letting his hands run across his eyes as he stepped down, coming to stand next to Jack.

Jack took a deep breath and walked forward, opening the black leather folder that rested on the podium and looking at the first name.

"General Henry Landry."

"Teal'c."

"Dr. Rodney McKay."

"Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell."

He continued, the names filling the air and gently pushing the grief aside, letting a promise instead seal itself into the lives left.


End file.
